Happy birthday to the sensational Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson presenting a Hugo Award at Worldcon 2017 in Helsinki (Photo: Sanna Pudas)
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, the acclaimed Nalo Hopkinson spent her childhood in Trinidad and Guyana before her family moved to Toronto when she was sixteen. Her groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy, noted for diverse characters and the mixture of folklore, includes the novels BROWN GIRL IN THE RING, MIDNIGHT ROBBER, THE SALT ROADS, THE CHAOS, THE NEW MOON’S ARMS, and SISTER MINE. Hopkinson’s short fiction has been collected in SKIN FOLK and FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.
As an editor, Hopkinson has worked on many publications including WHISPERS FROM THE COTTON TREE ROOT: CARIBBEAN FABULIST FICTION, TESSERACTS 9 (with Geoff Ryman), MOJO: CONJURE STORIES, SO LONG BEEN DREAMING (with Uppinder Mehan), and PEOPLE OF COLO(U)R DESTROY SCIENCE FICTION! (with Kristine Ong Muslim).
Beginning with her first novel BROWN GIRL IN THE RING winning the Warner Aspect First Novel contest, Hopkinson has garnered numerous awards. BROWN GIRL also won a 1999 Locus Award and that same year, the author herself won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her second novel MIDNIGHT ROBBER was a 2000 NEW YORK TIMES Notable Book of the Year. SKIN FOLK won the 2003 World Fantasy and Sunburst Awards as well as 2004 Gaylactic Spectrum Award (for GLBTQ themes in science fiction and fantasy). The NEW MOON’S ARMS received the 2008 Sunburst and Prix Aurora Awards. Hopkinson’s superior editing skills were acknowledged with the 2006 Prix Aurora Award for TESSERACTS 9 and a British Fantasy Award for PEOPLE OF COLO(U)R DESTROY SCIENCE FICTION!
Hopkinson currently teaches in the Creative Writing department at the University of California, Riverside. In 2016, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Anglia Ruskin University.
All of us at Tachyon wish the extraordinary Nalo Hopkinson a happy birthday. May those intelligent, diverse folktales keep flowing!
For more information on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Chuma Hill
Design by Elizabeth Story